Finished and Loved Remember the Ramrods

Yesterday I finished David Bellavia's Remember the Ramrods and I loved it. Below is my favorite section of the book:

Colonel Perez zoomed into the Red Room at warp speed. She was busier than the deck crew of the Carl Vinson during air ops as she coordinated and oversaw everything here. She handled it with absolute confidence, with zero sign of stress on her face. She was incredibly impressive. 

She waved over a young lieutenant who said, “Staff Sergeant Bellavia, the Army has a surprise for you. Are you ready?” 

This surprise had been mentioned many times for months by Colonel Perez and others. There was an inordinate amount of intrigue involved here, along with ironclad secrecy. They had teased me with it, but never let on what it might be. 

Okay, I admit, I had been hooked. My imagination started to run riot, and I had visions of some promotion with the good folks at Dodge or something; maybe they’d present me with a factory-fresh Ram pickup. Maybe it was a lifetime pass to all the national parks, or tickets to SeaWorld. I had no idea, but this was unusual enough that I genuinely grew excited about it. 

The moment of its unveiling had come. In the White House? That made it even more special. I feigned like I didn’t care but inside was like a kid whose parents tease them that the biggest thing in the world is coming. 

When I was eight, my father told me while on a fishing trip that he was coming home from Canada and that he had a big surprise for me. I was hoping for Hot Wheels or wrestling action figures. He came home with a full beard. I was supposed to be happy that my father had enough facial hair to consume his entire face over six days of him fishing on Lake Ontario. 

Let me tell you . . . major disappointment.

“Staff Sergeant Bellavia, do you remember me?” 

I turned to one side and there standing with a big grin on his face was Staff Sergeant Gustavo Reina. 

The man who recruited me into the Army. 

I hadn’t seen my recruiter since before I left for Basic in 1999. 

“Holy cow. SSG Reina.” 

I loved Staff Sergeant Reina back in the day. He was my first introduction to the Army. He exemplified leadership and comported himself exactly as an NCO should. He mentored me and sent me on my way. I’ll always be grateful for my path, and he was the starting point of the most important part of that journey through life. 

We hugged it out. The Army had spent considerable time and effort tracking him down, and getting him to D.C. to reunite us. Army Recruiting Command did stories on him as well—Staff Sergeant Reina, the man who recruited the Iraq War’s first living Medal of Honor recipient. It was a total surprise, and amazing to see him after all these years, especially in this venue. 

Still, after the buildup, I felt a little like the day my dad showed up in our kitchen with more facial hair than Grizzly Adams. I was at least hoping for an action figure. 

 

One bonus. If you get the audiobook version of Remember the Ramrods you can hear David read the book and also hear some audio of President Trump presenting the award.